The present invention relates to a braking device particularly usable for skates which comprise a shoe composed of a quarter which is articulated to a shell which is in turn associated with a supporting frame for one or more wheels.
With conventional roller skates, whether constituted by a shoe associated with a support for two pairs of mutually parallel wheels or by a shoe associated with a supporting frame for one or more aligned wheels, the problem is felt of braking said wheels in order to adjust the speed of said skate.
It is known to use adapted blocks or pads, usually made of rubber, which are arranged at the tip or heel region of the shoe or boot; when the user tilts the shoe forwards or backwards, the free end of the pad or block interacts with the ground, and braking is thus achieved.
However, these solutions are not optimum, because they require the user to rotate the shoe or boot, and therefore the frame associated therewith, at the tip or heel, and this can be the cause of a loss of balance with a subsequent fall.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,895 is known as a partial solution to this drawback; it discloses a brake for skates with two pairs of mutually parallel wheels, which acts at the rear wheels.
Said brake is constituted by a flap which is associated with the item of footgear in a rearward position; a plate is associated with said flap in a rearward position and is pivoted at the supporting frame for the item of footgear.
The plate has, at its free end, a transverse element on which a pair of C-shaped elements is formed at the lateral ends; the C-shaped elements interact, following a backward rotation imparted to the flap, with the rear wheels which face them so as to interact with the rolling surface of the wheels.
However, even this solution has drawbacks: it is in fact structurally complicated and thus difficult to industrialize: it furthermore entails the presence of adapted springs for allowing the flap to return to the position in which the pair of C-shaped elements does not interact with the wheels, and this further increases structural complexity.
Furthermore, the structural configuration of the brake causes the pair of C-shaped elements to interact with the wheel even upon a minimal backward rotation imparted to the flap and therefore also in case of involuntary movements, and this creates unwanted braking actions.
Finally, the interaction of the C-shaped element at the rolling surface of the wheels wears the wheels rapidly causing inefficient rolling, thus necessarily requiring frequent replacement.